> Due to the complexities of Puerto Rico's status as a commonwealth (i.e. not a State) the island is unable to declare bankruptcy. If they could then this issue could easily be solved and would give the government some leverage as is the case in most cases involving financial institutions taking advantage of these loans like was the case in Detroit and NYC.

Was Puerto Rico unaware of this when they took out the loans? Was the law changed out from under them after they had made these deals?

If not, why should we care?